Antonio Canale

Tony Chan

(25 February 1915 - 23 October 1991, Italy)

Antonio Canale was born in Monza, in the district of Milan. Canale started to draw comics very early, as Nino Pagot's assistant. He did his first works for Il Cartoccino and Il Corriere dei Piccoli, and drew his first comic, 'Piuma Verde' for Il Vittorioso in 1937. The script was by Gianluigi Bonelli, with whom Canale also made 'Sigrido' in L'Audace. In 1939, he illustrated 'Il Solitario dei Sakya' with a script by Federico Pedrocchi in Topolino. After his military service, he returned to Il Vittorioso, where he drew among others 'Valore Italico'. In 1943, he succceed Raffaele Paparella as the artist of 'Cabiria' in Topolino, and two years later, he illustrated 'I Dominatori dell'Abisso', another story scripted by Bonelli.

Also in 1945, Canale and Bonelli produced 'Yorga' for Il Cow Boy. Canale remained active for Topolino, drawing an episode of 'Virus' and 'Il Mago della Foresta'. In 1946, he created 'Amok', his most famous character, scripted by Cesare Solini. For this series, Canale used the pen name Tony Chan.

During the 1950s, Canale also worked with the English publishing agency Fleetway, for which he produced 'Buck Jones' and 'Buffalo Bill' in Cowboy Comics, 'Spy 13' and 'John Steel' in Thriller Comics Library and various other war stories. He also worked in the USA with 'Authentic Police Box' for St. John Publishing in New York. In 1960, he drew 'Hiawatha' in Il Corriere dei Piccoli (script by Roy d'Ami). He is the artist of 'Ballate della Vecchia America', a series about legends of New England, and the Giancarlo Berardi scripted 'Terra Maledetta'. He drew episodes of 'Kolosso' and 'Pecos Bill' and created the western 'Kirby Flint'. Antonio Canale died in October 1991.